Being a Responsible Pet Owner
Daily care, training, safety and health at a reasoning level — not just what good care looks like but why each practice matters — then researching a real pet and building a plan.
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Humane Education Curriculum for Grades 6-8
Original price was: $299.99.$199.99Current price is: $199.99.
The nine-unit humane education program rewritten for grades 6-8 — the same nine topics taken to a reasoning level, with real shelter data, lifetime cost projections, welfare law and how a bill becomes law, research tasks and informational interviews.
Every unit is scripted word for word, runs 75 to 135 minutes, and names its CASEL competencies and state statute alignment on its first page. Units four and five are a complete dog bite prevention program on their own, with two PowerPoints and three animated videos.
The manual, slides, videos, worksheets and certificate master all download from our online school the moment you buy. The Dog Smart Card Game, all three postcard packs of 50 and both posters ship to you.
What arrives
What every program comes with
- 1
The manual
Every unit written out word for word. You read it, you don’t prepare it — and you print only the pages you want.
- 2
The slides
The two dog bite prevention units each come with their own PowerPoint — visuals built, timed to the script.
- 3
The videos
Three animated videos support those same two units, dropping in where the script tells you to play them.
- 4
The printables
Puzzles, activities, worksheets and the SAFE game, plus a certificate of completion master.
- 5
The materials
The Dog Smart Card Game, both posters and the postcard packs the lessons call for — the one part that ships to you.
The first four are downloads, waiting in your account the moment you buy. The materials ship — exactly what comes in your box is listed in the description below.
Nine unitsGrades 6–8CASEL aligned
The same nine units, rewritten rather than reprinted. Middle schoolers project shelter population growth mathematically, audit a household for hazards, build a lifetime cost model from real national pricing, research local animal legislation and draft a genuine letter about it. It is still written out word for word, with the slides built and the videos cut — you open the guide and read, whether you are a teacher, a shelter outreach coordinator, a scout leader or a parent.
Each unit carries an I Can Statement, objectives, a materials checklist, a run of show, activities, a Book Club reading list and vocabulary, and it names its CASEL competencies and the state statutes it satisfies, printed on the page. Sessions run 75 to 135 minutes and several units split neatly across two shorter classes. Units four and five, the dog bite prevention units, each come with their own PowerPoint and three animated videos.
The nine units
Stop Pet Overpopulation
Overpopulation with real numbers: projecting growth mathematically, working with local shelter data, and forming an evidence-based opinion on one policy response.
Having Healthy and Safe Pets
The biology, chemistry and physics behind the rules, applied in a full household safety audit and a prevention-versus-cost comparison.
Be SAFE Around Dogs & Cats
The full SAFE system grounded in real bite data, taught by the students to someone younger, plus the legal and financial reality of pet liability.
I Can Learn to “Talk Dog & Cat”
Whole-body body language rather than isolated signals — the same core content and Dog Smart Card Game used at every level, because it isn’t a skill you outgrow.
Provide For My Pet’s Whole Life
Real national pricing data, a full lifetime cost projection, local price research, and the gap between what people expect a pet to cost and what it does.
Animal Advocacy
Recognizing neglect, helping versus interfering, welfare law — then real civics: how a bill becomes law, researching local legislation, drafting a genuine letter.
Careers Working With Animals
Past the job title and the salary: education pathways, daily work and tradeoffs, then researching one career and preparing for an informational interview.
The Kindness Connection
Kindness to animals and to people as the same skill, and the research behind it — including why Florida’s and California’s humane education laws pair them explicitly.
The classroom materials that come with it
These are the physical things the lessons call for, and they’re the one part that isn’t a download. One of each comes with the program. Each is also sold on its own — click any of them if you need more for a bigger group.
How you get it
The curriculum itself is a download. The presenter’s manual, the PowerPoints, the animated videos, the activity sheets, the worksheets and the certificate of completion master all live in Dogsurance Academy, our online learning system. As soon as you buy, you’ll get an email inviting you to create a password — log in and download everything.
There is no printed manual to wait for, and nothing to reorder. Print the pages you want, for as many children as you have, as many times as you teach it.
Buy it once and run it as many times as you like with your own groups, year after year. It isn’t licensed for reselling the program or passing the files to another organization — if you need to cover several schools or a whole district, talk to us and we’ll quote you.
You don’t need teaching experience. Every unit is scripted word for word, and the Tips & Add-Ons section in each one gives you options when you have more time or a livelier group.
On the screen
The slides are already built
The two dog bite prevention units each come with their own PowerPoint, redesigned in 2026. You put it on the screen and read the script beside it.
Delivered as PowerPoint and as PDF, so they open on whatever is in the room.
Standards & statutes
Built for what a district has to document
If you present in schools — or want to — these are the frameworks a principal or curriculum coordinator asks about before they let you in the building.
CASEL social-emotional learning
Aligned to all five core competencies — Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills and Responsible Decision-Making — at the developmental band of the edition you buy. Every unit names the competencies it covers on its first page.
State humane education statutes
Each unit is cross-referenced against the statutes many schools have to satisfy, among them California (Educ. Code §233.5), Florida (Stat. §1006.31), New York (Educ. Law §809), New Jersey (§18A:35-4.1), Illinois (105 ILCS 5/27-13.1), Oregon (Rev. Stat. §336.067), Pennsylvania (24 P.S. §15-1514) and Maine (Stat. tit. 20 §1221). The alignment is printed in each unit’s presenter notes, so you can show an administrator the page.
Who runs these
Written for whoever is standing in front of the children
Most of the people teaching this are not teachers. You do not need a classroom, a qualification or a lesson plan — you need the guide and an hour.
Shelters and rescues
Humane education outreach, adoption events and school visits — the audience this program was written for first.
Animal services and city departments
Cities and counties buy it for shelter staff and city workers to run as a community program.
Dog trainers
Many of our trainers present this as a community service alongside their own classes.
Veterinary practices
Client education, school visits and something useful to hand a family with a new puppy.
Scout troops and youth groups
Badge and patch work, troop meetings, church and community youth groups.
Libraries, camps and after-school
Summer reading programs, holiday camps, boys and girls clubs, after-school care.
Schools and classrooms
A half day, or one unit a week across a term. The standards and statute alignment is on the page when an administrator asks.
Homeschool families and co-ops
One child at a kitchen table or a co-op of twenty. The script works the same either way.
The SAFE game
One game a child can still play years later
Every one of these programs teaches the SAFE game: a short, physical routine a child can remember and use when a dog comes towards them. It is taught with the Dog Smart Card Game, the postcards and the posters that come in your box, so the children practice it rather than just hear it.
Any dog can bite, including a family dog. Teaching a child to read what a dog is saying is the part that lasts.
Reviews
From the people running these programs
It is easy to use, easy to teach with, and easy to understand. The kids enjoy the graphics and have great discussions. All of the info is great!!
Reach & Teach Humane Education Program
I really like the engaging aspect of this training and the ability to integrate it into our reach and teach project here at the shelter.
Reach & Teach Humane Education Program
Yes, simple for children to understand, practice, and implement.
SAFE Dog Bite Prevention Program
I plan to run a course at our local library and then again at a local shelter.
SAFE Dog Bite Prevention Program
As seen in
FAQ
Questions educators ask us
Do I need teaching experience?
No. Every unit is scripted word for word, which is the whole point — parents, shelter staff, scout leaders and club volunteers run these as often as teachers do.
How long does a unit take?
45 to 60 minutes. You can run the units back to back as a half day, or spread them over days or weeks, whatever suits your group.
What ages is it for?
Each program is written as a separate edition for a grade band, not stretched across all of them — the reading level, the session length, the activities and the character focus all change. Buy the edition that matches the children in front of you.
Can I use it with more than one group?
Yes. Buy it once and run it as many times as you like with your own groups. It isn’t licensed for reselling the program or passing the files on to another organization.
What do I get straight away, and what arrives later?
Everything — the guide, the slides, the videos, the worksheets and the certificate master — is a download, waiting in Dogsurance Academy as soon as you buy. There is no printed manual, so there is nothing to wait for and nothing to reorder: print what you need, as often as you teach it.
Is the SAFE program part of Reach & Teach?
Yes. Units 4 and 5 of Reach & Teach are the SAFE Dog Bite Prevention Program. If you only want dog bite prevention, buy SAFE on its own; if you want the whole humane education program, Reach & Teach already includes it.
Do you offer pricing for a district or a large organization?
Yes — contact us and tell us how many groups you’re running and we’ll quote you.
Who wrote these?
Jenn Merritt, a former CPDT-KA reward-based dog trainer and the creator of the SAFE dog bite prevention program, with Kim Merritt, who built corporate training online for a living before Good Dog in a Box.
